They rested in the research institute for another day.
At the crack of dawn the next day, they took the elevator from the tenth underground floor back up to the surface.
As soon as the elevator doors opened.
They saw a strange scene.
The zombie black cat, Mimi, was guarding the main entrance, locked in a standoff with a group of people.
The group before them wore neat uniforms and looked like a security squad. They stared at the giant zombie cat with tense expressions, not daring to initiate an attack.
The stalemate continued.
It wasn't until they saw the group emerge that the muscular man leading the security squad breathed a sigh of relief.
He introduced himself straight to the point:
"Hello, we are from the Jiang City Survivor Base."
The three men subconsciously shielded Chu Liuyue behind them.
Zhou Yuan cast a cautious glance at them.
His tone was calm, but certain:
"You are not a real security squad."
The leading man was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said:
"That's right, we aren't official. My name is Zhang Cheng, and I'm the person in charge of the survivor base."
"I am also the captain of this team of ability users."
"Last time we were exploring the edge of the city, we heard about you from a few new members we took in, so we came to rescue you."
The new members they took in.
That must be Lao Yu and his group.
The man then looked at Yan Qingdu with a smile.
Zhou Yuan and Yan Qingdu exchanged a glance.
They sensed that something was wrong.
The people before them were not friendly.
"Thank you for your kindness, but we don't need rescuing."
"Besides, we are heading to Jingdu."
As soon as these words were spoken.
The man remained silent.
But the group of uniformed men behind him burst into loud laughter.
"Did you hear that? He said they're going to Jingdu. There are even more zombies over there. How are you going to get there? Are you going to throw your lives away!"
"Exactly. All the people who could take command over there are gone. The situation is even worse than it is here."
Zhou Yuan sensitively picked up on this information.
He pressed, "How do you know that?"
The group, however, shut their mouths and refused to say more.
Li Xichen frowned and said, "What the hell are you laughing at! Just because you're too weak to make it to Jingdu doesn't mean we can't."
Zhang Cheng looked at him with eager eyes.
"You must be the ice ability user, right? Your friends are also at our base. Don't you want to come?"
Li Xichen shook his head.
"No."
Besides, Lao Yu and the others had clearly planned to flee Jiang City. Why would they inexplicably join a survivor base in Jiang City?
"Alright, what a pity then," Zhang Cheng sighed.
But he showed no intention of stepping aside to make way.
Yan Qingdu frowned.
"Captain Zhang, what is the meaning of this?"
"Nothing much." Zhang Cheng smiled and pointed at Chu Liuyue, who was being protected in the center, saying softly, "You can leave, but she needs to stay."
Li Xichen instantly grew furious, "Who the hell do you think you are, daring to point at my Sister Xiaoyue."
As his words fell.
Two ice blades flew swiftly straight at Zhang Cheng's face.
Zhang Cheng did not panic in the slightest and simply raised his hand.
Two vines shot out from his palm, rapidly wrapping around the ice blades and stopping them from advancing even half an inch.
"Wood ability," Yan Qingdu noted.
Li Xichen said angrily, "This trick is just like a damn man-eating flower."
Chu Liuyue patted the shoulders of the men in front of her.
Signaling them to step back.
Chu Liuyue stepped forward. The zombie black cat immediately came to her side to protect its master, arching its back in a combat-ready posture.
"Captain Zhang, we have no grudges against each other. Why do you want me to stay?" she asked in a calm tone.
Zhang Cheng's gaze roamed over her face and body for a moment.
He smiled.
"We indeed have no grudges."
"But you bullied my woman before. How are we going to settle that score?" he asked.
The people on the scene looked at each other in dismay.
Who?
Chu Liuyue bullied his woman.
Who was his woman?
Chu Liuyue looked at the man in front of her, whose uniform could not conceal the hostility between his brows.
She couldn't help but suspect:
"You can't be talking about Gu Man, can you?"
Zhang Cheng nodded, laughed out loud, and said, "It seems you aren't stupid."
Chu Liuyue turned her head and looked at Yan Qingdu.
She was stunned.
This was different from the plan.
Hadn't they only been apart for a few days? How could Gu Man have moved on to someone else so quickly? Besides, this man named Zhang Cheng had a very ordinary appearance.
He couldn't compare to Yan Qingdu at all.
She then glanced at Zhou Yuan.
She found his expression as normal as ever, not seemingly feeling like he was being implicitly cuckolded.
Chu Liuyue took a deep breath.
"I didn't bully Gu Man."
"On the contrary, she tried to harm me time and time again."
Zhang Cheng didn't care about this answer, merely smiling as he said:
"So that's how it is. Then just come back with us. If it's a misunderstanding, we'll let it go."
"Staying at a survivor base is better than wandering around anyway."
"I heard your ability is defensive. It's very easy for you to get killed."
Chu Liuyue realized that her attitude seemed too soft.
This man simply wouldn't listen to reason.
She smiled.
"Defensive?"
"Easy to get killed?"
She tilted her head slightly and said to the zombie black cat, "Mimi, they seem to look down on me. How about we just kill them?"
Almost as soon as the words left her lips.
The zombie black cat, which had been arching its back just a moment ago, shot toward the ability user squad like an arrow released from a bowstring.
Li Xichen and the others also immediately made their move.
The two groups began to fight.
Meanwhile, Chu Liuyue stood far away in a safe zone, watching them battle.
Right at this moment.
She vaguely felt a slight distortion in the air behind her.
Her body reacted faster than her brain. Two wind blades spiraled toward that spot. With a painful cry of "Ah," a man dressed in gray suddenly appeared in what had been an empty space.
"Stealth ability?"
"Trying to assassinate me?"
The man's legs had both been slashed with deep cuts.
He fell to the ground, looking at her in terror.
He muttered:
"How is this possible?"
"You're supposed to be a defensive type, how do you have an offensive ability?"
Chu Liuyue walked up and lifted the man up as if she were picking up a little chick.
She hurled him toward Zhang Cheng's side.
She mocked:
"How insidious."
"Trying to take advantage of the chaos to have someone kill me?"
"Too bad your strength isn't enough."
Zhang Cheng's expression changed drastically. He was fighting on par with Li Xichen, and with Yan Qingdu taking potshots from time to time, he was completely overwhelmed.
He immediately turned his head and shouted to his trusted aide:
"Quick, use your ability."
"We're retreating for now."
Suddenly, a thick fog filled their line of sight, instantly enveloping the entire combat zone.
By the time the fog dissipated again.
Aside from a few team members who had been severely injured.
The rest of them had retreated without a trace.
There wasn't even a shadow of Zhang Cheng to be seen.
"Forget it, don't chase them," Chu Liuyue stepped forward.
They interrogated the few people who had been left behind.
Only then did they learn that the members of this survivor base in Jiang City were initially real security guards, and it had been single-handedly founded by Gu Man's father, Commissioner Gu.
However, they were just ordinary people with good physical skills.
Meanwhile, Zhang Cheng and his group were ability users who had escaped from prison.
Just a few days after it was established, Zhang Cheng seized their territory and declared himself king of the hill.
Back then, as guinea pigs for experiments.
In addition to recruiting volunteers with heavy rewards, a batch of potions had also been sent to the prison.
